


Two lives into one

by SecretTimeIsHere



Series: The hidden star [4]
Category: Undertale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dreamtale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Horrortale (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Dreamtale, HorrorTale, Killer's timeline, antivoid, underswap - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-11 23:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19936345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretTimeIsHere/pseuds/SecretTimeIsHere
Summary: “Do you still forgive me…?”Error couldn’t answer.Walking up to the lone house in the doodle sphere with one of his best friends, a smell hit his magical lungs like a punch, knocking him back with shock alone. A smell he thought he never would have to burn his senses again, but that could only mean-Why did it still hurt?[Any idea for an ending to this? Give me some in the comments! :)]





	Two lives into one

It felt so ironic to be doing this, especially considering what he now knows, he never thought he would do this. He was right, it wasn’t _his_ idea- nor did he want to do it- but he still did, he got wrapped up in the heat of it and couldn’t go back into the cold. Although, now that he remembers, it brings some questions to mind.

How did he get off the hook, if he did at all? How did he handle moving on? Are there any lingering emotions for their shared ex? There were still many more questions on his mind, but the rest stayed unfinished, missing words, and if they are completed- they’re the same as the former three, just worded differently. However, questions were just one of the many things that currently plague his mind.

He walked carefully to the meeting spot chosen, not wanting to trip over a stay rock or lose his footing and fall off the unrailed platform and into the abyss. He stopped for what felt like an eternity but was truly only a minute, and looking out into the void of space, holding so much but out of reach. It was almost like it was a metaphor for his mind.

Finally reaching his destination, he sits down next to the other without eye contact. None is needed, they know each other well enough to guess how they’d react easily. The bridge between them has been broken, but the memories and information pilled in their minds haven’t been forgotten.

“Why...?” His companion asks after a long silence, the sentence speaking much more than the lone word, and he knew exactly what. Why did he want to meet again? Why was he tolerating him even after everything? Why did he even want to talk about this?

“Answers.” He responds, his soft tone easily identified, having taken it’s placed once again; most likely permanently. “...If you’ll let me, I have some questions too. If that wasn’t clear.” He clears his skeletal throat, realizing that you need to ask a question to get an answer and it was dumb to say the second part- but what is done is done. Much like their situation.

You can’t take back anything. Once it’s happened it’s happened. Erasing can’t hide that existed. Forgetting won’t change that had happened to you and that it’s in your past. Destroying won’t and can’t remove it from people’s mind and history, and there are quite a few things his companion and their shared ex-lover can’t take back.

“But I’ve done so much to you Error- why-” Error hushed his companion and helped to calm down again, “...I-I’ll let you. It’s the least I could do; after everything.”

“Thank you.” Error starts but doesn’t continue, once again realizing something. He doesn’t know what question to ask first. It takes another pause before he decides, “How did you get off the hook, if you did at all?”

The companion stares for a minute, not sure what exactly the reformed destroyer meant, wanting to answer the question correctly for him.

“We both know what exactly I mean, Dream.” Error deadpans, making eye contact for the first time with him in possibly months, maybe even a year.

It was hard to remember if he even dared to look the positive guardian the last time they met, he could clearly remember curling in on himself and keeping his eyes on the TV, however, trying to stay as still as possible. It was dumb to do so, but at that point, he didn’t remember any good meetings with the skeleton. The only meetings he could remember felt like Dream was the predator and he the prey.

So many act like the “villains” are predators and that everyone is on their hit list, that they’re unhinged and can’t control themselves, but the opposite is the truth. The people they have labeled evil and #1 target are just people that never got help. People that have been labeled their whole lives, people who didn’t grow up well, people who just need someone willing to understand and listen to their story.

The multiverse questions why now that he remembers he still destroys, why he still trusts and stays with Nightmare and his gang, the answer is simple. They’re the first to ever trust him. They understand what it’s like to be hated by rumor. They know what it’s like to be despised because of lies. Honestly, Error could only think of two others that he’d trust more.

Dream sighed once he saw Error’s gaze. It wasn’t crazed, it was far from it, but it did have a hunger for truth and answers. One that couldn’t be quenched unless fed.

“I didn’t. I let them say what they wanted to. I moved on and kept up with protecting what needed to be protected. I saved and restored the Aus in dismay, I let them get out their frustration.” The positive explained, his look of sorrow not missed despite the sea of uncertainty around him. “It was the quickest way to get everyone to move on.”

The pause dug into them this time, clawing at their souls. One felt the almost uncontrollable need to comfort the other despite everything, and the other wanting to let out all the pain he has stored. However, the former felt like he should just move on from it, his second life’s wishes crossing with his current ideals, and the latter couldn’t let out the emotion. He’s supposed to help others, he can’t be upset for getting what he deserved, he can’t be weak.

The waterworks flowed anyway. Powering like waterfalls but quieter than a young child sneaking out of their room to get a midnight snack. He shouldn’t be so weak, especially now that they’re enemies again, but it felt so relieving to get all the pain he’s been holding back out. He could slip up keeping quiet any minute, but he got to a point where he didn’t care. Younger kids are smaller and can be sneaky, but they also tend to be more clumsy and make even more noise.

Error heard the sob next to him and couldn’t hold back the feeling anymore, wrapping his arms around Dream and resting his skull on top of his, letting the skeleton let out everything. No words passing through their teeth. They didn’t need to. They already knew.

They are enemies, but once upon a time, they were close friends. Helping each other with issues and seeing their best and worst, Dream wasn’t the highest on his shortlist of friends, but he was up there in respect and understanding. The skeleton was just over 500 after all, he’s had to deal with so much in his long life.

Hanging out with the elder guardian helped him earn a greater understanding of Nightmare as well, learning about their background and why they hated each other so much. It does help if you know both sides of the story.

After finishing his episode, Dream let out a soft sorry, asking for the errored skeleton to please forget that ever happened. It took all of his will power to let go of him and stop comforting him.

“...next question.” Dream’s dull tone rung, making his soul pang with empathy.

“How did you handle moving on? I know you didn’t plan to fall in love or anything- and it was your first time even experiencing love like that… I know it’s kinda personal so we can move on if you don’t want to answer.” Error asked, nervous, realizing it was an extremely personal question- but he wanted to know.

All feelings broke away for Ink after seeing and finally accepting that the protector no longer loved him, or at least, that’s what he thought at the time. It felt as if someone shattered a mirror, and over half the pieces fell off, there were some remands of his care for Ink but other than that, all positive emotions for the artist disappeared.

The emotions had turned to dust, much like their relationship. Only a piece of sentiment remaining, the only thing besides the dust that let others know there was once something there.

“It was hard, I broke down… convinced myself that the relationship was pointless anyway and didn’t mean anything to me, then moved on the best I could.” Well that answered his last question, “... Is that all?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you still forgive me…?”

Error couldn’t answer.

  


\-----

  


Walking up to the lone house in the doodle sphere with one of his best friends, a smell hit his magical lungs like a punch, knocking him back with shock alone. A smell he thought would never burn his senses again, but that could only mean-

“Ink! Don’t tell me you did-” Error’s voice rang out as he quickly ran into the house and to where the smell was strongest, there was so much underlying care in his tone. It both drove him sick and angry, but at the same time, he couldn’t care less.

Blue followed close behind, not knowing what the reformed destroyer meant until he saw for himself. He thought his brother was bad, maybe they could get the two of them together to help each other?

Ink turned around once he heard someone enter the room, he had been in his hobby room, leaning against the window seal and keeping his head outside. Not wanting to let the smell stay in the house, knowing Error would drop by. He just lost track of time and had forgotten to stop.

“I thought you got over this… I thought we went over this...” Friendly and romantic love laced in the words, slowly, the errored skeleton walked up to the disheveled artist and took the smoke out of his mouth and rubbed the end into the ashtray. “Back to pocky and lollipops, I guess.”

Ink stood still, looking guilty and depressed, even more so than usual. Error sighed and took Ink into the kitchen -Blue still following close along- and started quickly preparing food for all of them.

“So...” Blue started, turning to Ink, “Um, how have you been?” He tried, knowing it was pointless but wanting to keep the artist’s mind distracted. It already had been hard to tell what his train of thought, now it was near impossible to guess what he was thinking.

The artist could be thinking of a new art project he wants to try or experiment with, or he could be wondering why Error and Blue even came. Why they even stopped him from his bad habit. Why they’re even tolerating him.

Ink looked away, his body language expressing that he wasn’t well, but his mind not wanting to accept aloud that he needed help.

“...Paps has the same problem, you two should meet up sometime.” Blue mentioned, hoping that meeting with someone else that had the same problem would help, but still unsure of himself.

“That’d be nice… doubt he’d like to see me though, considering...” Ink trailed off, remembering Honey’s relationship with Error.

After they patched things up, they became close, almost like brothers. He had been practically adopted into the family, accepted and always welcome. Blue even acting like an older brother to him despite the destroyer being older by some degree, but Error hadn’t complained, it was nice to have some sort of family.

Ink could remember many times where Honey and Blue would invite him over for game nights or even a night out, giving the introverted skeleton a social life beyond the few friends he owned. It made the protector wonder how the swap papyrus took Error’s temporary memory loss.

The artist also could remember that Honey had been infuriated with Ink after hearing what he did, there were many words he heard that day, and many of which he was sure Blue would never let him say at home. He wonders if Blue ever found out about that.

Error tried to stop the awkward conversation by dishing up food for all of them, it wouldn’t be efficient in cutting off the conversation fully, but it worked to calm it for now. Ink shouldn’t be thinking about the past and what hurt him, especially considering he’s fallen father down then he ever has before.

They ate in silence. Words chocking them, but no one was being suffocated like Ink was.

It hurt Error to see Ink like this, all the work they had done to help him and make his underlying depression almost disappear, but it had all washed down the drain in a matter of months. He should’ve known that’d happen, Ink was always one that needed support and appreciation to keep him going.

It’s why he was able to protect the worlds so well, without a soul, he had no purpose. The vials give him his emotions, and the Aus gave him friendly love and support in return. He could always count on the Aus to enjoy his company, it made him feel _alive_. It made it feel like he had some sort of purpose.

Now though, the Aus hate him. He has no support besides Error and sometimes Blue when he occasionally visits. He’s lost all his purpose, the only keeping him going being the knowledge that the Aus would die off completely without him. Although, because Error remembers now and will only be destroying the copies and excess timelines, he barely even has that anymore.

Nightmare and his gang only attack every so often, keeping enough negativity alive. From Error’s experience with them, he knew why it wasn’t often they did, maybe twice a month. So much planning went into it. Preparations and every outcome planned ahead. What if someone gets hurt on their side? What if Dream shows up earlier than planned? What if the Au starts collapsing around them and they aren’t able to cause enough negativity or aren’t able to raid it for supplies?

So many thoughts go into it, so much time and effort for something that takes only a few hours at most.

“Do you want to practice knitting?” Error asked he washed off his plate and put it into the sink with the rest of the dirty dishes.

Ink slowly nodded, and walked into the hobby room once again, grabbing what he had been working on last time his ex had stopped by. Blue followed along, wanting to get some practice in as well.

The most Error could do right now was keep the artist distracted and keep him going, this was going to take even longer and even more work than last time.

  


\-----

  


“I still can’t thank you guys enough for letting me stay with you.” Error thanks once more as he eats with the gang, happy that he’s still welcome with his old friends. Although soon, he'd have his own house and that day was only a mere few weeks away, but he was enjoying his time with roommates. Even if it got really loud when people argued over pointless things, it gave his life some

“Well yours always welcome glitch, besides, it’s interesting to see you living a normal life. I remember struggling to get you to eat even one meal a month with us.” Nightmare mused as he finished his plate, humming at Horror’s cooking again.

If only the weren’t hated, Horror could open a five-star restaurant. It’s sad that only they get to have his amazing cooking. 

“ I’m not taking sleep for granted ever again.” Error remarked, remembering how tired he felt after remembering everything. Sure he had dreamt of it all, but that was the first time he’d slept any in maybe a week or two.

The destroyer couldn’t imagine taking the luxury of rest for granted anymore, it was so nice to just be able to lay down and sleep. Sure, that may sound weird, but for someone that rarely slept or ate anything for most of his life, it feels so true. Same goes with the rest of daily life, knowing that everything you need is there was good enough alone for him.

“Wanna do some training?” Killer asked eagerly as he finished off his plate as well, sure he was probably going to get his butt kicked, but this was an opportunity he couldn’t miss.

“When I’m back from destroying, sure.” Error replied, smiling. Knowing Killer’s combat style and already forming a plan in his mind to both wind out and beat Killer in a matter of minutes.

“You better come back quick then!” Killer hollered after the errored skeleton as he left through one of his tear like portals.

Quickly, as to go through with his promise to Killer and because he just couldn’t bear to listen and watch the destruction, he carefully killed away the copy he arrived in. Sending out enough string to quickly attach to every soul and kill them in an instant. The most mercy he could give them. Once all the strings came back from their deed, he wrapped them around all the code around him, making sure he could destroy the copy as soon as possible. He didn’t want to stay with the Dust for long, it brought back some memories.

The quick process made the work go by faster, but somehow it hurt him more. People died all at once, their whole life and timeline gone in minutes. But it was better wasn’t it? No torture, no playing with the Au, just merciful destruction. Controlled chaos.

Why did it still hurt?

Knocking on the door in front of him, he was greeted inside and sat down.

“What’s wrong?” The skeleton beside him asked, offering some of his out of this world cookies, bright and brilliant with creative frosting and a galaxy of taste. Error took one and started to nibble at it, savoring the taste before answering.

“I’m having trouble adjusting back to my… _Job_.” He finally explained, looking at the person beside him in the eye sockets, soft pricks of cotton white that somehow looked as fluffy as his hoodie. “It just hurts; knowing I’m taking away lives in an instant, taking away a whole timeline almost immediately. They’re copies and are just small alternated timelines, but that doesn’t change it. They’re just unique and different and-”

“Whoa, buddy. The train of thought needs a pit stop.” Outer interrupted, holding his hands out in a _calm down_ motion, “Let’s break this down. Okay? Make it easier to think over and come up with a solution?” The native sans tried, Error gave a slow nod, calming down after hearing Outer’s soothing voice. Was it always that nice to listen to?

They went over all of what Error said, breaking down the reasons why he was upset over each. It hurt him to know he was taking away lives, why? Because all of them were important, they were copies of their original Au, but they still were unique in their own way.

It hurt him to know he was taking away a whole timeline in almost an instant, how does that matter? Because it’s the only thing left of that ending, only thing left of those choices, he just erased it from existence. He’s the only one that remembers it now.

They are just copies, but they are also unique, even be it by a small choice. Every choice branches into a new timeline, and sadly, they flood the multiverse. It’s just become hard to get rid of them, his morals have changed drastically. He’s now seen and taken time to help and know the multiverse and most of its inhabitance, he’s seen that every life matters. Just like Ink had been trying to tell him for years.

“You’re with Nightmare right now, right?” Outer asked after they finished breaking everything down. Error acknowledged his head, “Don’t they kill off most the Aus and raid them?”

“I don’t see where this is going.”

“Even copies have resources, plan with Night, since it’s only a copy Ink or Dream won’t show up, right? They can kill off everyone for you and raid the place, and then you destroy what’s leftover, it’s a win-win for both sides.” Outer smiled, finishing his idea, Error felt his soul rise at seeing the bright grin.

“How is it a win for both sides?” The destroyer asked, trying to keep his cool, although he could feel his cheekbones grow hotter by the second.

“You get extra time to help Ink, Ink doesn’t have to rely on fighting Nightmare’s gang for a purpose and you can use your extra time to distract him, Nightmare gets the resources he needs to stay alive with the rest of his gang, Dream doesn’t have to do as much work either. It also creates negativity and chaos keeping the balance steady. Doesn’t that sound like a win for both sides?” Outer explained, his smile growing even more in size, reaching the ends of his cheeks.

“Wouldn’t it be showing I have a weakness…?” Error asked shyly, not liking to let others know of any of his weak points. It was bad enough people knew of his weakness for chocolate and Undernovela. Although it was nice Outer and Blue got into it too, movie nights were so much fun with them.

“Stars, Error. No, It wouldn’t be. It’s okay to say you can’t do something. Sometimes you just need to back down, get help, and then try again with a new mindset.”

Error felt his cheeks grow hotter, but he couldn’t hold back a tender smile when he said thank you. He could swear he saw a light blush on Outer’s cutely chubby cheekbones.

**Author's Note:**

> Got any idea's on a way to end this? I already have the plot line done and a general idea of how I want it to end, but I love seeing feedback from you all! Feel free to comment ideas down below or even an event you want to happen and maybe I'll work it in :)


End file.
